Hello, I’m new here!

CLB

Hey everyone I hope I have posted this in the right section? I would just like to introduce myself, I’m Connor or CLB, whichever you prefer.

I’ve been into gardening since I can remember but I never got the chance to really start gardening properly until now (I’m 20 now) Last year all I did was plant some seeds (Sunflowers, Marigolds & Dahlias) on my windowsill then put them into larger pots outside and they did surprisingly well! I was happy to see all of the insects in the garden, it made a nice change to see bees and butterflies hanging around our garden instead of flying straight over us. This year I’ve taken the next step of trying to sort our garden out, it’s been neglected for a couple of years now so I want to try and do something with it, we have a small pond in one corner next to the decking then we have about 8 feet worth of weeds and grass stretching to the fence at the botttom of the garden so I’ve started digging in this area as it gets the most sun. I have removed as many weeds as I can see and turned the soil over then covered it with compost etc. I planted a few seeds a week ago when we had a bit of warmer weather then recently we had the beast from the east (again!) I’m sure you’re all aware of that! Hopefully the seeds will still germinate and the weather will be much better from now on.

Anyway I could carry on typing for days so I’ll leave this here and go back to what this was originally about, saying Hi. So Hi!!

Pauline 7

Hello Connor and welcome . I have just managed to get in the garden today for the first time this year. I have to limit myself to an hour at a time.  
Make sure you take loads of photos of your garden, and post them on here  as you go along, as we love looking at other people's gardens.  Also it will help you if you get a bit despondent. ....you will be able to look back and see what you have achieved. 

Fran IOM

Hi Connor. You have come to the right place if you ever want advice or ideas as to how to plan your garden. There are so many knowledgeable people on this forum that once they can see a photo of what you are dealing with there will be no end of ideas and advice. Do hope you enjoy participating. Good luck.

Dovefromabove

Hello Connor and welcome 
It'd be great to see some photos of your garden and the changes you're making .

Kitty 2

Hi @CLB 🙋. Sounds like you've made a good start in the garden this year, and have bags of energy and enthusiasm 👍.
I love growing from seed, sow all mine indoors though as it's a bit nippy 'oop north'. Hope yours do well this season.

Welcome to the forum 😃

Hostafan1

and welcome from me too.

CLB

Thanks for the welcome everyone!

Here's a 'before' picture for proof that our garden has been neglected for a while haha, for some reason it looks a lot smaller on camera i have no idea why! I had a spare hour today so I've weeded the best I can around the pond because as you can see the grass has taken over! The 'grass' on the rest of the garden needs serious overhaul so I was thinking maybe covering it with A tarp? Maybe that will help dry it out and kill it off? Then we can remove it and put some new lawn down. Or would lawn killer be easier and better? 

Also as you can see I've composted next to the pond for now and planted a few seeds, I will continue doing more gardening on Friday if I have time before work. 

Quick side note: We still have frog activity every year in that pond despite it not being touched for a while and this year we have frogspawn again and at least 5 frogs from what I've seen so hopefully they survive and find a way out, our new(ish) fence is concrete at the bottom as you can see and there's nowhere for them to go from what we know except hiding under the decking as it's nice and cool under there. 

Nanny Beach

Hello and welcome, thats a posh (and expensive!) fence, re-laying and getting ready for new turf is hard work, but its the best time of the year, realy if you were going to cover with a tarp to kill off excisting grass you would have been better to have done it in the autumn or winter. you will still have to dig it over.  Maybe hire a totivator for a day, unless you have a lot of weeds to remove.  Personally, with 2 dogs and small grandkids, I am not prrecious about my grass, I dont weed or feed I mow.

Sussexsun

Hello and welcome. Looks like you have a project sorting out that grass but on the plus side you can cut them n nice wide borders before you so it.

CLB

The whole garden is waterlogged so hopefully we get enough dry weather for it to dry a little more and then maybe we can plant more grass seed if that’s easier? I would rather have the grass now I think about it it’s just that the garden is so uneven I thought killing it off and relaying would be good for getting it more level. If anyone has any easier ideas for getting the garden more level then fire away! (I’m going to guess I could just easily dig any mounds out that we have so that the gardens level then add grass seed? Remember I’m quite new to gardening so any advice will help, big or small!) 

Obelixx

Hello.  You need to do some serious soil improvement there which is a case of aerating, weeding, leveling and re-seeding.

You can get on with aerating as soon as the ground stops oozing audibly.  Spread your weight  by standing on a plank and then push a large fork in vertically as deep as you can go and wiggle back and forth to enlarge the resulting holes.  Do this every few inches and then brush in piles of dry, sharp sand - not wet, round builders' sand.   You can get this done over the next couple of weeks while it is still too chilly to germinate grass seed.

In April, apply a spring weed and feed product following instructions for dosage very carefully as too little will have no effect and too much could leave your garden black.

Leveling can be done by spreading compost mixed with some sand in the dips.  Tamp it down with the back of a rake then sow fresh seed once the weed and feed has done it's stuff.   As SS suggest, you can dig out your new borders before addressing the grass problems as this will save time and expense on products and seeds but do use planks when walking and dogging so you don't compact the soil any further.

Aerating can be done every spring and autumn and will eventually lead to a decent soil unless you have a serious problem with ground water and compacted clay in which case you need to do some serious drainage work to fix the bog.